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Dads2Dads: Bond with your family during this time of togetherness

Dads 2 Dads
Tom Tozer and Bill Black
Montgomery Advertiser ? USA TODAY NETWORK
Tom Tozer and Bill Black are authors of "Dads2Dads: Tools for Raising Teenagers." Like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter at Dads2Dadsllc. Contact them at tomandbill@Dads2Dadsllc.com.(Photo: Contributed)

It’s near impossible to come up with a positive take on COVID-19. We are all at risk. Many of us are caregivers for children or the elderly, and that concerns us a great deal. Some have relatives in group settings which worry us.

Dad, if you’re working from home these days and your kids’ schools are closed — and everyone is going stir crazy — maybe you can see this as an opportunity for some bonding time.

We’re not suggesting that you shrug your shoulders and ignore this virus. It’s deadly serious. However, if the best defense against this disease is to stay home and pay strict attention to shielding coughs and sneezes, pass the tissues.

Big game hunting

What can the family do? There’s always the game closet, on the other side of the door of which there are board games for ages 1 to 4. Those just won’t cut it. Matter of fact, they should have been tossed out years ago. But they bring back such sweet memories of a different era when the air was fit to breathe and everyone leaned over the game table, their faces inches apart. Ah, the good old days!

Hey, wait a minute. By this time, the family needs some conversation starters. How long can you rattle on about the response to the crisis? How long can everyone find just the right meme to share and which one resembles us or someone we know? Maybe it’s time to open the game closet door.

Life is a puzzle

Hey, here are boxes of 1,000-piece puzzles. We remember the puzzle picture of the little girl in the colorful garden, with the babbling brook running behind her and the birds flying overhead. But 1,000 pieces! By the time the family puts the last puzzle piece in place, that little girl will be an old lady!

Oh, here’s Twister. Everyone’s party favorite. The game invites close body contact, creating contortions that are perfectly legal in the living room but highly suspect on the front lawn. But no matter. One could not play Twister six feet apart. And don’t even think about playing Twister with the parents!

How about a card game? Remember those? Gin Rummy. Rook. Concentration. Poker. Of course, between each play, players would have to sanitize their hands with that clear goopy stuff so as not to share germs. A game that should take only 20 minutes might last two hours. By then, the cards would be soggy and the pungent air would intoxicate all the players.

“King me!”

Oh, wow! Here’s checkers and dominoes. No one gets tired playing with those … unless you discover one of each is missing and the rest of the day is spent on hands and knees. And then mom remembers that a checker was used to prop up a table leg to keep the kitchen table from rocking. Everyone runs to the kitchen to check on the checker, and lo and behold, there’s a domino where you could have sworn the checker was.

Ah, now we have an activity that will consume an entire day. Whoever finds the lost checker will get to shout “King me!” and then order breakfast in bed tomorrow morning, prepared and served with love by the rest of the family.

It’s time to shelter and care for each other.

Tom Tozer and Bill Black write a syndicated column on fatherhood and are authors of Dads2Dads: Tools for Raising Teenagers. Like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter at Dads2Dadsllc. Contact them at tomandbill@Dads2Dadsllc.com.